Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-01-06
In THE MIDDLE WEST.
A Story of Life in the Great
Mississippi Valley.
BY ALvA MILTON KERR.
CoPYRIGHT, 1885, BY THE A. N. KELLOGG
NEWSPAPER CoMPANY.1
CHAPTER XXI.-CONTINUEp

"Well, well! bless me, I'm glad to
see you, SIR cried Squire Thorp,
shaking John Earring vigorously by
the hand II used to know your father
prime You look some like him, but
more ike the mother, | Judge" Then
she that was once Eettie SPAWN found
her tongue loosened, and John EARRING
learned a great deal of himself and his
parents ere the meal was finished.
Squire Thorp, widower, justice of
the peace, notary public. and admirer
OF Mrs. Bettie TreSsier, was very hearty,
and Mrs. Hettie TreSsler, widow, owner
of the Tressler farm, and leaser of the
Earlingford House, was overiiowingly
happy. John Earring, too, found him
self strangely well entertained by
glimpses they gave him of his unre-
membcred years and time hidden be-
hind that misty period.
When he and Squire Tnorp went out
into the little yellow office together,
after the meal had been discussed, the
young man ventured to ask the forid
Squire if he knew Ivyl Snaer.
BLESS you, yes, my boy, yes," cried
the squire, ''havc a smoke? Don't use
tobacker. Ell? Good idee; gin it my
self, but get so hemengus pussy if l
don't use it | have to back up to my
friends to shake hands with 'cm!" and
the squire laughed till he seemed in
danger of stran@l.ng. After recover
ing himself he drew on his cigar, and
leaning against the counter. eX-
claimed: ',knowed Ivyl Snaer? Bless
you, yes; bless you, yes. | come onto
the scene early in life; was born in a
log house down on the bottom
there tifty-two year ago the twenty
second of next June. and by the help of
sweet cider an clear conscience
I've Outweathered frcshets and a@er-
cake ami always chung to these parts.
In fact | was born on a frcsnct; my
fathers cabin was tloatin' down the
bottom on one of the Others annual
blow-outs when | made my first APP
pearance and took up the burden of
Twin in the world. Never had no no.
ton of fO0tjn since:' and the squire
gave kind of sucking snort of laugh
ter and strangicd gain. John Earling
squire, but he never permitted himself
to indicate such & feeling for any one,
We're their unpleasant features free of
evil.
lis Mr.. Sn&erstill living?" he asked.
Bless YOU! | don't know, | don't
know; guess not, though: he left here
before the war and went South some
where and nobody. leastwise in these
parts, has ever heard a breath of i'm
or had the scratch Of a pen from i'm.
He always seemed like a fish out of
water after yorr fathers death. Guess
he didn feel satisfied about takin' the
land as he did But bless you! the
transaction was square and straight as
a tombstone: he paid the money and
held the deed. y
so | understand
'.But he laid it clean over me- said
the squire, SOLDERING and shaking his
head; Il never could butt agin the
thing hard enough to make the reason
for his goin' oil penetrate my pate. He
sold every thing he had about here but
the farm he got of your father: that he
put in my keer, an told me to hev' it
seeded down an paster an hay it an
put the proceeds in the bank for i'm.
Then he cleared out, an not a blessed
hair of i'm has ever showed above the
horizon sincef'
How long since was that?'
Fifteen wears agoi If he's in Heaven,
what's to become of the farm an pro-
ceeds? / never heerd of i'm havin' a
kin on earth. I've thought about it,
boy. till I've lost the bigger sheer of
my hair | can't do the sum! It's as
tough as the dried gizzard of ancient
Pharaoh." and with another snort the
squire strangled. and they walked out
upon the porch.
CHAPTER xxi.
Next morning John Earring, accom-
panied by the fat widows son, went
down the winding road to the farm
where in the long ago he first received
the fatal gift of life. The air was
quiet, with a sunny flavor in it, and
the snow lay over the world like a
light blanket of down. The boy point
ed out the spot where John Earring 5
father fell, and the young man stood
still while flood of feeling swept
over him. and looked at the trees
so bare of verdure and the little
stream that came jingling down the
hill and slipped away into the white
meadows. When they came in sight
of the house which, weather-beaten
and brown, stood breast deep in a
mass of tangled shrubbery, and over
topped and leaned upon by larger
trees, John Earring dismissed the
youth, who took himself off toward the
town with deal of vigor, for the
premises Ddu SOlIcu W llu lIS III LII VI
years a very ghostly reputation. In
deed, the place was very suggestive of
uncannv fancies, being so shaggy and
lonely and overgrown; besides time
had only intensified and deepened the
tale Of darkness that overshadowed IT.
Here once had been happy home, all
filled with warmth and love and COM
fort when the north winds blew, and
blossom-cinctured in the summer,
which some unknown hand, with an
appalling sin in it as a weapon, had
struck and crushed away into dark
ness and left to cold decay and desc
lation. And the young man, standing
before it, had been its heart of glad
ness once; lying up in the big chamber
there in soft wOcls and tilmy linen with
a halo of sweet wishes about hisvacant
head. What had not death bereaved
him of! He could not compass 1t, for
those far-off DAYS to him were as empty
of any remembered thing as the gray
hollow of heaven which. without mo-
ton, or cloud. or fieck. arched over
him.
He slowly crowded his way through
the tangle and stood upon the wide
porch, which, moSs-grown, decayed
and sagged between the pillars, seemed
tipping away from the time-darkened
building. The doors and windows
were closed with heavy planks, secured
by spike-nails and cross-bars of heavy
oak bolted into the wall. 1t seemed
strange that an empty house should